Fundora 1 Olivya Fundora Professor Esther Okonkwo ENC2135 June 30 2022 Effects of Corruption Throughout my childhood I was asked What do you wanna be when you grow up more times than I could count Growing up my interests frequently changed but one thing always stayed the same I knew I wanted to help people I wanted to make sure that everyone was treated fairly and equally I wanted to make sure our society continued to thrive and benefit from what we as individuals had to offer The discourse community that I hope to be a part of does exactly that Business law is only a fraction of the endless paths the field of law has to offer It has to do with educating businesses on applicable laws and practices in order to take the right approach when issues arise Businesses are all around us and it is how societies thrive Making sure that businesses are helping our society and not hurting it is important in order to ensure we continue to advance to greater heights But these businesses are run by people and people are constantly exposed to greed and deceit For example Facebook is an online social media and social networking service that allows people other businesses and organizations from different communities to communicate with each other in a fast and efficient way But inside Facebook lies greed and abuse of power The goal of my research is to figure out how much corruption in large corporations such as Facebook negatively affects our society from an economic social and political aspect Fundora 2 To find the answer to this question I did some research on Facebook and what really goes on inside the company My research led me to find out the deceitful actions Facebookhas committed such as having let global and political figures abuse their power towards the public and its opponents I ve also discovered the ways in which Facebook has committed criminal actions such as fraud in order to economically benefit themselves These are only a few of the many ways corruption inside Facebook has negatively affected the way we view the reliability of businesses and large corporations Before we put our trust in companies such as Facebook it is important to know In order to really understand the impact the actions of these businesses have on us as individuals we must really look at the bigger picture Facebook has allowed us to connect in ways we never thought possible and plays an integral part in the way we interact socially Which is why users expect complete transparency from the company But unfortunately that isn t always the case Wall Street Journal s investigative podcast series The Facebook Files Part 1 The Whitelist hosted by Ryan Knutson and Kate Linebaugh along with guest Jeff Horiwitz a reporter from the WSJ gives us an insight into the first of an extensive array of internal Facebook documents that reveal the things that Facebook concedes from the public Linebaugh states Facebook and its top executives know what the problems are but in some instances can t or won t address them Linebaugh 2 51 She continues by saying that sometimes because it fears hurting the business or growth Linebaugh 2 58 If a business prioritizes its own success over the welfare of the public then as a society we are failing Actions have consequences and they affect all of us more than we think Horowitz emphasizes as the company s platforms become increasingly ingrained in our lives the decisions they make and the priorities they have affect everybody even Fundora 3 if you don t use the platform Horowitz 3 17 This goes to show that everybody is somehow affected by the decisions Facebook chooses to take whether you use the social media platform or not More than a third of the world s population uses this platform which means the repercussions spread worldwide After finding out this information I further investigated how people inside of Facebook feel about its own company s actions An article published in the New York Times written by former Facebook employee Roger Mcnamee talked about his firsthand experience working at Facebook and witnessing all the wrongdoings they have committed Whether we like it or not Facebook has a huge impact on the social welfare of people and is one of the most influential businesses in the world Although it has built a platform unlike no other Mcnamee states that in the process it has been careless with user data and aggravated the flaws in our democracy while leaving citizens ever less capable of thinking for themselves knowing whom to trust or acting in their own interest Mcnamee As a society we should be thinking of ways to advance and to become better Becoming comfortable leads to chaos and that is exactly what Facebook has done Instead of focusing on ways to better the media platform it has become obsessed with its own success and become blindsides Although Facebook is beneficial towards our society and the way we interact with others there has been some controversy with people who believe its doing more harm than good A poll conducted by CNN revealed that 76 percent of US adults believe Facebook makes society worse compared to 11 percent who said the social media giant has a positive impact on society as a whole NY Post This proves that there is a small majority that is slowly starting to believe this social media giant is starting to negatively affect our society no matter the good it has done Fundora 4 Our world s view on politics has also been affected by Facebook in more ways than we think Global political leaders and figures use this platform in order to spread their beliefs and ideas with people all over the world It plays a huge role in the political discourse of every country which is why we must make sure that it is used for good and not to hurt others An investigation made by The Guardian a British daily newspaper revealed how Facebook has allowed abuse by global political leaders towards poor small and non western countries in order to prioritize addressing abuses that attract media attention or affect the US and other wealthy countries Guardian Allowing this type of abuse towards innocent people makes the public lose trust in the platform and eventually in what it has to say There has also been documentation found showing how Facebook has handled more than 30 cases across 25 countries of politically manipulative behavior Guardian We can see the hold that Facebook has over its users and the influence it has over decision making worldwide It is important that Facebook takes